117 Ga. 948 | Ga. | 1903
The questions involved in these two cases being practically identical, they may properly be considered together. The Civil Code, § 5527, provides that bills of exception shall specify plainly the decision complained of and the alleged error, and “ shall be signed by the party, or his attorney, or solicitor.” In the •case of Speer v. Merryman, 56 Ga. 529, this court held that “where a bill of exceptions is signed neither by the plaintiffs in error nor their counsel, the writ of error will be dismissed,” and that the defect could not be cured by amendment after the case had reached this court. The reason for such a ruling is manifest. No person not a party to a case, although interested in its determination, can file exceptions to any ruling of the court in such case. Central R. Co. v. Craig, 59 Ga. 185; Healey v. Schofield, 60 Ga. 451; Turnbull v. Foster, 116 Ga. 765. And a person not affected by a judgment has no right to complain of it. Orr v. Webb, 112 Ga. 806, and cases therein cited. In both the cases now under consideration, it affirmatively appears that the paper tendered to the trial judge as a bill of exceptions was not signed by either the complaining party or his counsel within the time required by law for a bill of exceptions to be tendered. It follows, therefore, in the light of the Civil Code, § 5527, that no legal bill of exceptions was presented within that time, and consequently there was nothing that ■ could be subsequently amended. The law is just as imperative that .a paper purporting to be a bill of exceptions shall in reality be one as that it shall specify the decision complained of and the alleged
In one of the cases now under consideration, that of O’Connell v. Friedman, it affii'matively appears from the certificate of the trial judge that the paper presented to him was not, when so presented, signed as required by law; that he did not ascertain this fact until after the time within which a bill of exceptions could be presented, and that, upon discovering that the paper was unsigned, he allowed
Writ of error on main bill dismissed, in both cases. In Peeples v. Cavender, judgment on cross-bill reversed, with direction.